Surendra Koli has been transferred to Meerut jail from Dasna for execution, but jail officials say no date has been set for the hanging yet.

Drain outside Pandher’s house in Nithari where the remains were found.

Thirty-nine years after it last saw an execution in July of 1975, Meerut jail will witness the execution of Surinder Koli, 42, held guilty of the 2005-06 Nithari rapes and murders. On July 27, President Pranab Mukherjee had turned down Koli’s mercy plea.

S P Yadav, Superintendent of Dasna jail in Ghaziabad said Koli had been transferred from Dasna to Meerut jail as the former had no facilities to carry out the execution.

The death warrant issued by Additional Sessions Judge Atul Kumar Gupta on September 2 stated, “There is no stay order passed by any court, state government or any other authority staying the execution of sentence of death upon death convict Surinder Koli.”

“Though the court has said the execution order be carried out on any day between September 7 and 12 at 6 am, a final date is yet to be decided by the superintendents of Meerut and Dasna jails. It depends on when the formalities and arrangements for the execution are completed,” I G (Prisons) R R Bhatnagar said.

Meerut jail superintendent H M Rizvi said a jallad (executioner) named Pawan had been contacted to carry out the death sentence with a manila rope.

The last time someone — one Karan Sigh — was hanged in Meerut jail was 1975. In the state, the last execution was in 1991 in Agra, when Jumman was hanged for his involvement in rape and murder case.

Sixteen cases were registered against Koli after Nithari killings made news in December 2006, following the discovery of human remains from a drain behind the Noida house of Koli’s employer Moninder Singh Pandher.

A week-long search of the drain yielded more and more human remains and skeletons. The case was initially taken up by the Noida police who arrested Koli and Pandher.

While Koli was convicted, Pandher was granted bail last month. He is all set out to walk out of Dasna jail after nearly seven years. “He has been granted bail and will be freed soon,” Yadav said.